I like the OP's plan better. To me, we made some good moves and some bad moves. For example, re-signing Stills, extending Reshad Jones, adding Fasano, acquiring Hayes were all sound moves. I think the cheap safety we added might be good too, but I just don't know the guy well enough to judge. But THE priority of free agency should have been to secure 2 solid to good guards. That's where the money should have been spent.
This is a phenomenal draft for LB, DE, pass rushers, CB's and S's. We don't need ALL of those positions in free agency. Fill the ones that are not abundant in the draft first, which would be LG and RG. THEN look for deals at the other positions. Having a need at DE, LB, C or S is perfectly OK. This draft has them for several rounds. But, it does NOT have guards all day. Now we'll have to reach for a guard and bypass on elite talent at marquis positions ... or once again settle for a crippled team because we tried using dumpster trash guards. Not wise IMHO.
Timmons is a great name. He used to be good. But last year his vaunted run defense disappeared, and he was bad at run stuffing. His vaunted speed also disappeared as he was no longer fast. He is bad in coverage. We paid a premium and guaranteed almost all of both years for an old LB whose last decent season was 3 years ago. I wouldn't have done that deal.
Branch is OK. He was paid $7.5M + incentives, which is fair. He was OK, but not good. He was poor against the run, and he netted 5.5 sacks I think? Given he has Suh up the middle next to him, Wake coming from the opposite side, and is lining up in the Wide 9 which is a pass rusher's dream ... I'm not overly impressed with 5.5 sacks. Re-sign him ... fine ... but don't re-sign him AND add Timmons, burning so much salary cap and locking us into two sub-par players and preventing us from drafting real difference makers at LB and DE. That seems unwise to me.
So, for me, I guess I'll wait until after the draft to re-evaluate. Perhaps there is some grand plan of which I'm not aware. Maybe they're going to swing some big trade to net us a couple more picks in the top 3 rounds. Maybe Dion Jordan is healthy and looks like a monster and they're not telling anyone so they can bluff that we need edge rushers? Maybe there are a couple of phenomenal guards in Canada that have handshake deals to join us and we don't need any guards? But ... all of that seems highly unlikely.
More likely, we're locked into passing up elite talent at pass rusher, LB, DE, CB, S and TE to select a Forrest Lamp in round 1 and Isaac Asiata in round 3. I mean ... they're fine players, but it means we pass up guys like TJ Watt or Taco Charlton in round 2 and someone like Sidney Jones (who will be injured his entire rookie season) in round 3. Hey, who needs potential All-Pros anyway.
